Alteration
by SilverThorn-2000
Summary: It's funny how running your mouth without thinking can change things. A wish is made, and it changes both life and the world. Timmy becomes but a dream of Timantha, and the world a darker place. But at least she isn't alone in facing it...
1. 0 - It's the End of the World As We Know

0\. It's the End of the World as We Knot It (And I Feel Fine)

* * *

"Ugh, this stinks!"

This was not an odd exclamation for Timmy Turner to make. It was, in fact, one he made on an almost daily basis. What brought it on would vary: A sadistic babysitter (thankfully less common at 15), a fairy obsessed former teacher (Still frustratingly common), a poorly phrased or impromptu wish (equally common), or as the case was right now, neglectful and slightly ignorant parents.

"They're going on vacation! Without me!"

"But you have the house to yourself!" Cosmo piped up in his all-too-cheerful voice.

Timmy grumbled. He'd been noticing, more and more as the years went by, that his parents really didn't pay a ton of attention to him. And it bothered him, somehow.

"You know they didn't take you because you've got school, right?" Wanda added.

"Still! They could've waited until I was on break!"

"Isn't it their anniversary?" Cosmo asked Wanda in a stage whisper.

"No," his wife replied dryly. "Because it isn't ours."

"Ohhhhhh, yeaaaaaaah..." Cosmo drawled, floating off to contain his son, Poof, who was trying his best to transmogrify their fishbowl into something well out of proportion to Timmy's nightstand.

"They needed a 'second honeymoon'," Timmy remarked with a snort. "Just another excuse to get away from me."

"Now, sport, you know that isn't true," Wanda chided gently. Timmy was in one of those moods. The kind that tended to end in wishes born of a mouth running without mental filter, and since earplugs and leaving the room were right the heck out (damned Da Rules)...

"Seems true enough. Wish I'd been born a girl or lived in some weird urban fantasy world. Bet they'd pay attention to me then!" A beat, then Timmy's hand met his face as his brain caught up with his mouth. "Sorry, guys."

"Poof."

"Here we go again."

"See you on the other side, sport."

The three fairies raised their wands, and Timmy closed his eyes. Light, brilliant white, was visible behind his eyelids before it all faded to black...


	2. 1 - And I Feel Fine

1 - ...And I Feel Fine

* * *

She fell out of bed with a thump and an inelegant (and unladylike) cry. Timantha Teressa Turner rubbed her bruised arm and swore softly. Another of those dreams, of her being born a boy...

"You okay, honey?" Wanda Cosma poked her head in. She and her husband rented the basement rooms that arguably served as an apartment, had been even before their son had been born.

"Yeah. Another dream." Timantha forced herself up into a sitting position with a groan. "And being too asleep to pick up that I was on the edge of the bed."

Wanda stepped in, helped her up. Timantha sighed, and smiled. The Cosmas were very much a second family to her, had been most of her life. They trusted her enough to keep their secret, and Timantha trusted them enough to keep hers.

"Just another great triumph of the magically-inclined," Timantha muttered under her breath.

Wanda glared, brushing pink hair behind an ear. "Now, sweetie," she said, familiar parental tone creeping in.

"I know, I know. Don't beat myself up. Just hate when I have those dreams. Don't know which of us is real." Timantha sighed, sitting on her bed, adjusting the shirt of her pink pajamas idly. Her feet kicked against the side of the bed.

"Well, if we go by the fact that there's multiple realms, it's very possible both of you are." Wanda's remark earned a 'Not Funny' transmitted by glare from Timantha. Wanda shruged and smiled.

Timantha sighed. Sidhe. What could you do?

"At any rate, kiddo, you need to get moving. School, and all that."

Timantha held back another sigh and hopped off the bed. "I know, I know. Can't play hooky."

Things were a shuffle, then; Timantha showered and dressed, then shot downstairs for breakfast. It was one of Wanda's usual scrambles; egg and sausage and cheese mixed together, strategically half-burnt, and dumped unceremoniously onto a plate to be eaten. Which it was, with different reactions, none of which were verbal. Or within eyeshot of Wanda herself, until Cosmo slipped up.

"Oh, just eat it!" Wanda snapped. Poof chuckled, Cosmo obediently shoveled mass amounts of the scramble in his mouth and choked it down, and Timantha smiled and kept eating quietly. It was, for them, a normal "Turner Adults Gone" kind of breakfast. None of Dad Turner and Cosmo's chatter over hobbies/work gripes/blaming Mr. Dinkleberg for some imagined slight, or Poof doing impressions and telling stories for Mom Turner, or impromptu songs...

Timantha was, all-in-all, happy enough with a short-lived quiet. High school was loud enough.

"Hanging out with Veronica this evening! Back late!" she said, pushing her now empty plate forward. She turned, slid out of her chair, and half-jogged to the door to pick up her pack.

"Have a good day!" Cosmo called cheerfully.

* * *

"So, yeah. Thanks for helping me study last week." Veronica said, her tone as chipper as ever when it was in public. Timantha, for her part, went along with it. No use dragging up that it was very much a mask.

Mind you, the fact it _was_ a mask was pretty much an open secret.

"You...holding up okay?" Timantha asked after a moment.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Like, my counseling session was postponed, so that's why tonight is free." Veronica smiled.

"You're not lying to me, are you?" Timantha arched an eyebrow.

Veronica stopped walking, and Timantha followed suit. Veronica put her hands on the shorter girl's shoulders and gripped firmly. "Tee, you're one of my best friends. I promise you, I'm still seeing my counselor. Neither of us wants me melting down again."

"All right," Timantha agreed quietly.

Veronica smiled. Not her usual broad, half-fake "I'm a popular cheerleader" smile, but a small slightly-sad real one. "Come on, we have class."

"I'll catch up," Timantha replied. She stopped in front of her locker; twirled numbers around and opened it. And yet another voice interrupted her morning.

"Hey, Timantha, the science test is coming up-" AJ started. Timantha closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and reached out to draw in ambient mana.

"I'm busy today, AJ," Timantha said calmly. "Raincheck? Or study in the regular group?" She put some force behind the last bit of her comment, releasing some of the mana and nudging AJ's mind slightly.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Talk to you later then!" AJ said, hurrying off.

Timantha sighed. AJ was a great guy, but she really wasn't interested in him. She swore that Chester kept putting him up to it. She felt bad about nudging him like that, never mind that it was a bit of an abuse of her magic. She forced the thought from her mind, checking herself in the mirror in her locker.

Just the normal slight-overbite-and-buckteeth combo, blue eyes, brunette hair pulled up by a pink bow, flickering flash of a figure of deep shadow-

That last surprised her. She looked back to check. Nothing.

Timantha took another deep breath, closed the locker, and calmly ran for her social studies class.


End file.
